i have spent the last 30 hours trying to figure out whats wrong with my PC. I installed adaware yesterday to get rid of GAIN(some crap annoying advertising application). In the process, i think i deleted an important file, so since then my PC has been crashing everytime i run computer games(only). Games run at 1 frame per second while half of the polygons/graphics are missing, everything is flickering and the game is not responding. So i decided it's time for a format, took me hours to backup and reinstall everything. After the long process of formating and installing all the **** on my PC, guess what? thew problem is still there! i formated again using the NTFS(slow format). problem is still there! im going nuts at the point, im starting to pull my hair in anger and frustration.

i got a message saying hardware conflict, so i decided to unplug my USB 2.0 card......wow problem solved......for 10 minutes! everything went back to it's ****ty state. I downloaded **** loads of patches, including windows and graphic card(Nvidia) patches, the problem still persists! :dunno

i'm at the point where i feel like smashing my monitor to pieces, and throwing my PC out of the window!!!!!!!

is there any way i can diagnose my PC to know where the problem/conflict is?

excuse the typos, it's 3am and im very exhausted from sitting infront of the PC for the past 2 days!

I also have AdAware, but I have not seen this. It never grabs an essential file for deletion. Do you have AdAware running constantly? If so, don't. Just run the scan once a day or so. Also, on the main screen in AdAware is something like "Quarantine"... right by the "Ignored Files" button (or something like that... I'm on my Mac right now). Check that out. If AdAware did grab a file, it should be somewhere in there and you can look for it.

If the drive has been formatted twice over, I doubt a virus is the problem of such weird game-related graphical glitches. It sounds more to me that something in your graphics card is severely screwed up. You have a few options to try out.

1. Take you Graphics card to a firend's PC and try it out to see if it works fine on their machine.

2. Try installing Windoze on a different HD.

3. Try installing with the minimum amount of hardware plugged in - basically only your GFX card. Add sound, usb cards later if the system is stable so you can check what is wrong.

4. Your memory may also be screwed. If you have a chance, try it with differnt memory.

However, with missing polygons, graphical glitches and crashes in games, sounds to me like its either the graphicscard or the memory that may be screwed, and not a virus at all.

Originally posted by Seska If the drive has been formatted twice over, I doubt a virus is the problem of such weird game-related graphical glitches. It sounds more to me that something in your graphics card is severely screwed up. You have a few options to try out.

I guess your right, but i was just woundering if he did cuz i had the same problem and if he backed up his stuff on CDs and put them back on their could be a chance that thoes files can be infected and once he puts them back on the computer it could spread once again. The samething happen to me but i forgot the name of the virus. But i would try out Seska ideas they should work.

Originally posted by Joe Redifer I also have AdAware, but I have not seen this. It never grabs an essential file for deletion. Do you have AdAware running constantly? If so, don't. Just run the scan once a day or so. Also, on the main screen in AdAware is something like "Quarantine"... right by the "Ignored Files" button (or something like that... I'm on my Mac right now). Check that out. If AdAware did grab a file, it should be somewhere in there and you can look for it.

well now that i formated and started from new, i dont have adaware since i dont need it. im thinking it's one of the windows updated files thats causing this. i wanna delete some of them, but i dont know where to start from

Originally posted by Seska If the drive has been formatted twice over, I doubt a virus is the problem of such weird game-related graphical glitches. It sounds more to me that something in your graphics card is severely screwed up. You have a few options to try out.

1. Take you Graphics card to a firend's PC and try it out to see if it works fine on their machine.

2. Try installing Windoze on a different HD.

3. Try installing with the minimum amount of hardware plugged in - basically only your GFX card. Add sound, usb cards later if the system is stable so you can check what is wrong.

4. Your memory may also be screwed. If you have a chance, try it with differnt memory.

However, with missing polygons, graphical glitches and crashes in games, sounds to me like its either the graphicscard or the memory that may be screwed, and not a virus at all.

ok thanks, i'll try option 3 to start with

how would the memory be screwed? i hope that my 1024RAM is fine!

man this is wearing me out, been sitting infront of the monitor for hours, i can't stand being infront of the PC anymore!

If its still under warranty just call the people you got it from and tell them its acting funny. They'll do the tests on it and figure it out for you.

Though I remember when my PC used to freeze or reset when I tried to play a game. It was the ram in that case. P.O.S cheap ass ram got buggy. Thats why I spend money on parts now for proper quality. That drove me mad back then.

ok guys problem solved. I pulled the insides of my PC out and started off with keeping the graphic card(Nvidia Ge Force Ti4600), booted up my PC and all games work normaly. Then i installed the sound card(SB Live), booted up and everything works normaly. Installed my USB 2.0(different one) plugged my DSL modem, external HD, iPod, booted up and everything worked fine.

I also had a 56k moded that i was supposed to try out, but since the computer is working fone now and i dont need dialup, i figured i wont even bother with it. I have a feeling it's the problem, but then again im not borethered to find out since my 'puter works fine now!